State Board of Education Set to Release List of Non-Public
Schools Receiving Recognition

Non-public schools in Illinois seeking recognition
status from the Illinois State Board of Education for the
upcoming school year and which met the required procedural
deadlines will be notified next week whether their application
has been approved, state board officials said today. Last
year, some 800 of 1400 non-public schools received such recognition
through participation in the voluntary program. However, a
line item veto cut to the agencys budget by Governor
Blagojevich has eliminated ISBEs capacity to carry out
the function of registering and recognizing these schools
beyond August 15.

ISBE recognition is sought by non-public schools for various
reasons, including:

It gives assurance that the school's educational program
has been approved by ISBE and meets at least minimum state
requirement.

It is an aid/requirement to entrance in many colleges,
universities, and other post-secondary institutions and
training programs.

It is a requirement for membership in Illinois High School
Association and student participation in Illinois Elementary
School Association sanctioned sports, contests, tournaments,
etc.

It is a requirement for acceptance/assignment to most
military training programs.

It is a requirement for eligibility of students to sit
for licensing examinations in fields covered under the Illinois
Nursing Act.

Teaching in a recognized nonpublic school is often used
to determine placement on the salary schedule when teachers
transfer to other schools, both public and private, especially
in other states.

Student transfers from recognized schools are expedited
and credits can be generally accepted.

The State board believes this is a crucial service,
and its our intention to work with the General Assembly
next year to restore fiscal support for it, said Robert
E. Schiller, State Superintendent of Education. But
providing this program is not required by the statutes and
we no longer have the funding to perform the work, he
said.

In May, ISBE sent letters to all nonpublic schools in the
state informing them that to be processed, their applications
for recognition for the 03-04 school year must be sent to
ISBE (schools in Chicago) or to the local Regional Office
of Education (all other schools) no later than June 30th.
All applications that met that deadline were processed before
the Governors cuts were announced, and those schools
will be notified of their status next week. Any application
received after June 30 will not be processed because of the
budget cut. The recognition program will shut down fully August
15, ISBE said.

Chicago schools that are recognized for 03-04 will receive
their certificates from ISBE; all other schools in the state
will receive their certificate from the Regional Office of
Education.